Mother Chocobo
by icyboots
Summary: In which Cloud cares. Perhaps too much. AVALANCHE fic. Oneshot.


My third contribution for cloud's birthday week 2k14 challenge.

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><p><strong>Mother Chocobo<strong>

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><p>The look on Cloud's face made Tifa awfully sheepish, reminding her of the time when her mother was alive and shot her the same look when she ruined her new dress while playing.<p>

"How did this happen?" She could almost hear _'I expected better from you'_ from his tone alone, but Cloud just kept staring at the bill, waiting for an answer.

So running off with Aerith the moment they reached Costa Del Sol and ending up drunk-shopping wasn't the best idea, but who could blame them when they spent what seemed to be an endless time cramped in a ship while disguised as the enemy?

Cloud seemed to understand that at least, but… "20,000, Tifa?"

"Aerith can be pretty persuasive," she defended, somewhat glad that said woman was blissfully sleeping on her shoulder, unaware that she had been thrown under the bus. Hey, it was every woman for herself, and it was _really_ Aerith's influence that she ended up like this.

"Yeah, she can…" Cloud muttered, looking as though he was remembering something unpleasant. "You two will work this out by yourselves, and make sure it won't happen again."

"You got it." Tifa nodded heartily, relieved that she was off the hook this time.

She watched Cloud leave — probably to make sure no one else in their group did something disastrous — before she turned to the happily snoring Aerith, flicking her forehead lightly as a pay-back. "You almost got us in trouble."

Aerith, oblivious to this all, continued snoring.

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><p>"You know you didn't have to yell at him that much, right?" Sometimes, Cid missed the days when Cloud regarded him as a stranger, a new member of the team he wasn't sure how to act around. It meant that he wasn't getting these sort of remarks every time Cloud thought he did something he should comment on.<p>

"Hate to burst your bubble, Spiky, but the guy fuckin' works under me, he should know better than to be late!"

"By five minutes."

"Same thing!"

Cloud didn't reply, and Cid would've deemed himself the victor in this argument if he didn't know what it meant.

Proving his suspicions right, there was that _stare_, that blank, dull stare that spoke of millions of held-back sighs of disappointment — the one Cid hated with a passion because of its effect. "Alright, alright! I'll be easy on 'em!"

Cid really missed the days where he intimidated Cloud to sit and have a cup of tea.

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><p>"And what are you doing, Red XIII?" Nanaki turned around abruptly upon hearing someone asking behind him, almost tripping as he did so.<p>

"It's hard to walk on two legs," Nanaki replied, even with the disguise recognizing the one who was speaking to him as Cloud. "But I've yet to be exposed."

"You sure fooled them." Were his ears tricking him, or was he detecting a laugh in Cloud's voice? He was about to ask about it — because really, it was the first time he heard the blond human _laugh_ — when his helmet fell off. He was about to engage in the painstaking process of picking it up when Cloud did it for him, for his outward annoyance and inward delight petting his head before placing the helmet firmly on it.

"There you go, now it won't fall off."

Nanaki wondered, as he watched Cloud climb down, if there was more to him than the aloof nature he presented to the world.

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><p>Sometimes, it was easy for Reeve to detach himself from Cait Sith, to separate himself from the robotic cat's actions.<p>

It was an easy job; infiltrate AVALANCHE and keep watch on their plans and relay them to ShinRa.

It was easy inviting himself into the rag-tag group of misfits' ranks, and although he was suspicious — so much that the current leader, Cloud Strife, who had a reputation for accepting anyone into his party, was dubious about it — no one of AVALANCHE made him feel as an insider, an unwelcome addition to the team.

It was easy getting attached to them.

When the possibility of having a traitor among AVALANCHE was brought into light, Cloud refused to think any of them as a traitor. And Reeve, through Cait Sith, wished could agree.

It was an easy job, so why, when he revealed himself and saw that betrayed look on Cloud's face, did he feel so guilty?

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><p>"It's my turn to be on watch, Vincent."<p>

"I thought you'd appreciate the rest," Vincent replied, answering the unasked question about why he was still awake.

Cloud merely shook his head. "I'm fine, you don't have to worry about me."

Vincent nodded, but he still wasn't convinced. He saw the effect Mako and Jenova had on the body and mind in Lucrecia, and Cloud was only an empty husk of himself just a few days ago.

"Go and sleep, Vincent. You're the one who was on watch the most, don't think the others didn't tell me." Ah, so he was caught.

"I don't mind," he tried to defend, but Cloud heard none of it.

It took some threats of dragging him away and then having Cid wake up on them, yelling that _some people here are trying to fucking sleep!_ for Vincent to give up, Cloud beaming in that somewhat smug way of his upon claiming victory.

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><p>Barret really didn't like Cloud when he first met him, something about his devil-may-care and flashy act got him pissed in a way only his hate for ShinRa could rival.<p>

But he got used to the little shit as their journey went on — somewhere between thorough Materia tutorials and handed-back expressions of concern — and when Cloud was no longer there, Barret had to admit that he missed him a little.

Their friendship wasn't the most outspoken and obvious one, but Barret figured he had to say something nice for a chance now that Cloud was back to them and himself — even if Barret saw no obvious change; the guy was still his usual infuriating self.

"Glad to have you back, Spiky!" he called out, once and that was _it_; there was no way he'd repeat that.

Thankfully, Cloud heard him, for a moment smiling genuinely before teasingly calling back, "Missed me, huh, Barret?"

Barret swore.

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><p>"Hey Yuffie, where's that contract you wanted me to sign?"<p>

The world almost ended a day ago, and despite of that, Yuffie was more surprised by Cloud's question.

"The one where you agree to give me all your Materia?" she asked back, kindly reminding him in case he was somehow talking about another contract.

"Yeah." Cloud nodded, looking a bit confused by her hesitation. "Give it to me while we're on the ground."

When she first brought the contract up, Cloud refused to even read it, saying that reading while on air made his motion-sickness worse. In the far reaches of her mind, Yuffie thought he was lying, making up an excuse to refuse her request. But now it appeared that he wasn't…

"Why?" she couldn't help but ask.

"Don't you need them? You said so in Wutai." Yeah, she remembered that alright, but she didn't think Cloud had _listened_.

"You told me that you didn't care about it, though."

Cloud snorted. "Well I spent a lot of time chasing after you when you stole our Materia, so you can't blame me for being a _little_ pissed off."

He got her there. "So you're really going to give me your Materia?"

"As long as I can get them back when I need them," Cloud added. "Aside from that, they're all yours."

She couldn't help but to bounce excitedly — maybe her goal wasn't so impossible after all. "You got yourself a deal, Cloudy!"

"Hey, don't call me that!"

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><p>Summoning Holy was something Aerith had to do, something she had to take risks for.<p>

It wasn't a noble sacrifice, she wasn't _that_ selfless. She had a future and many things to look forward to; like meeting up with the companions she traveled with across the Planet again, boarding on the Highwind, the martial art lessons Tifa promised her, and even Cloud's concerned scolding when — _if_, she corrected — she came back.

She was the only one who could do something about Meteor, and so she was going to do something about it, risks and dangers be damned.

And when she opened her eyes and saw Cloud standing before her, she wanted to smile and ask, _"Are you really going to lecture me? I saved you all, give me some credit."_

But she couldn't.


End file.
